The Curious Case of the Village in the Moonlight

Saint-Paul Mental Asylum, France, June 1889Newly admitted patient Vincent Van Gogh watched as the first stars of what would become The Starry Night blinked to life. There was the half-moon, creeping up from behind the hills. The wind rose with such splendid force, he could almost see it. There was the sleepy village, colored with candlelight.In that village lived a lamplighter. That notorious starry night would be his last one on the job. The town was scheduled to be wired with a new and innovative technology called 'electricity' the following day. The lamplighter began his last night of work at the village tavern during 'green hour' - an absinthe-drenched celebration in his honor. Green hour would transform the night from familiar to fantastical, with the village street lamps mysteriously vanishing. The lamplighter is swept away on a wonderfully strange adventure to find and light the lost lamps, one that will take him from the depths of wish-filled rivers to the heights of the star-filled sky. Along the way, the lamplighter finds help from a curious cast of characters including the man on the moon, an ages-old cypress tree, and the wind itself. It will take all of them to find the lost lamps, and a lost love.From author of the highly acclaimed Fairytale Chicago of Francesca Finnegan comes another thought-provoking and unconventional fantasy novella, sure to help readers rediscover the stars.